The ONC Gazette (12/29/18 Edition)

Greetings Outlander Fanatics! 

Hey, everyone!  Did you survive it? Christmas, I mean? I barely did. I’ve been pretty much missing in action for a few weeks. Between sickness (the winter crud, ugh!), Christmas shopping plus friend & family get-togethers and a new grandbaby, I’ve barely had time to breathe. I know you won’t believe I’m saying this but I almost wish Outlander had taken a week (or two) break for the holidays as many other television series do. Although, it was a great way for us to pause for an hour and lose ourselves in the 18th century before coming back to the busyness before Christmas.

Enough about me! I hope this newsletter finds you all doing well and getting geared up for Hogmanay! One of our admins, Tara Crawford, shared this recipe from the Outlander Clan Cast Blog for Black Bun, which was served up in Season 3, Episode 8, First Wife. Here in North Carolina, the tradition is…get ready for it…it’s not Black Bun….it’s…

In the book series, the Frasers don’t meet George Washington until the Revolutionary War has begun, so I was surprised to see him and Martha being entertained by Governor Tryon!  Many people are disputing the show’s writers placing the future General and President in North Carolina at that time, but why not?  George Washington was a surveyor and land owner, and could’ve possibly met with Tryon. We’ll let you decide, but there is a history with Washington and the colony/state of North Carolina.

As mentioned, Washington was a surveyor as a young man.  In 1763, he founded and had a large share in the Dismal Swamp Company.  The company was formed so that the 4,000-acre swamp could be drained, logged, and eventually farmed, but that never happened. Washington surveyed the land there, as well as where the Dismal Swamp Canal was eventually dug to connect the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia with North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound.  The canal is now part of the Intracoastal Waterway and is used year-round by boats of many kinds, sailing the East Coast.  If you’re ever traveling in northeast North Carolina, stop in the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, walk or bike the trail there, and see a few boats if they’ve docked in the canal by the rest area.

Once George Washington was General of the Patriot forces, officials scurried to name places for him, but little old Washington, on the coast of North Carolina, was the first!  Now the seat of Beaufort County, (pronounced bo-furt), the town had been petitioned to be formed in 1771, but founder James Bonner never called it “Washington” until five years later, and it was incorporated as Washington by the NC General Assembly in 1782.  Even today, it is called “Original Washington” by many, and is also known as “Little Washington” by locals after Washington, D.C. was founded–just so everyone would know that it wasn’t the capital of the country.

Many years later, in 1799, Washington County was formed from the western section of Tyrrell County. Plymouth is the county seat, and the Albemarle Sound borders the northern section of Washington County.  If you’ve ever driven to the Outer Banks via highway 64E, you have driven through the northern section of Washington County and Plymouth.  The downtown area has a nice historical district, and in June, it hosts the annual NC Black Bear Festival.  Washington County is also the home of Somerset Place Historic Site, but just barely–if you cross the canal just a few yards from the main house there, you’ll be in Tyrrell County.

While the line in the Wilmington episode where Gov. Tryon mentioned to Jamie that Washington had surveyed the 10,000 acres that was Fraser’s Ridge isn’t necessarily hard to believe, but it is doubtful. Washington was an aristocrat and politician longer than he was a surveyor.  He didn’t travel the lower Southern Colonies or States until 1791. North Carolina had not ratified the constitution, so he waited until it had been before traveling south from his Virginia home. He eventually traveled and stayed in New Bern and Wilmington, and found them “delightful.”  I am proud to say that Washington also visited my home county of Edgecombe, the town of Tarboro specifically, and spent the night there on April 18, 1791. The Town Common in Tarboro is one of only two remaining original Colonial Town Commons in the United States, with the other being in Boston. Tarboro’s historic Town Common, established in 1760, encompasses 15 acres adjoining the town’s historical district. Five 18th century homes and over two dozens antebellum homes are in the historic district which encompasses 45 blocks. In his diary, Washington remarked that the town of “Tarborough” was “more lively and thriving” than Halifax. You can read more about Washington’s tour of the Southern states at the NCPedia website.

Any relationship that Washington had with Tryon would have been marred by the Revolution.  Tryon, as an appointed–versus elected–official, had a loyalty to England.  Washington, obviously, wanted independence.  So, obviously, they ended up on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and since the Revolution was stirring in 1768, it isn’t likely that Tryon would have Washington as an invited guest, since he was already in the House of Burgesses for his county in Virginia.  

Cool discovery alert: In 1776, Tryon, with other government officials and several of Washington’s trusted bodyguards, plotted to kill him!  Not much has been written about this, and while there is some information available online, there’s a new book, The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, that will be available in January 2019. (I’m not being compensated for sharing this link.)

Yes, that’s right! Guess who is performing in the London (yes, London, England) New Year’s Day Parade? The Warriors of AniKituhwa! Click HERE to read all about it! Why is that newsworthy, you ask? Well, these very same Warriors will be spending an entire day with us at A Fraser’s Ridge Homecoming~Return to the Ridge 2019. They will be doing demonstrations throughout the day and will perform for us at lunchtime on Saturday. I am so excited about our special guests! 

They’re not the only special guests we’ll be having though. Captain Robert K. Rambo (USA, Ret.) will be performing for us on Sunday morning with a one-hour dramatical presentation of the Reverend Thomas Woolsey. The Reverend just happened to be a frontier Baptist preacher and teacher and also participated in the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780. A busy man indeed but he will find enough time to come through the stones to share his story with us!

Tickets to the Homecoming~Return To The Ridge 2019 are still on sale. You can click the button below to either purchase the full admission ticket or pay the $150 deposit – it’s up to you. Flexible installments are available and you have until now and June 30, 2019 to pay! If you need more info before you purchase, click HERE. We’d love to meet you at The Ridge!